Let me start out by saying yes, I realize that a journalist is a subset of a writer. However, we aren't going to talk about the technical terms. Instead, we're going to discuss how I, as a writer, have no obligation to only write about the latest news. Being a writer is so much more than confining myself to strictly journalism and I will never want anyone pressuring me to strictly write about news.

So what is a writer?

A writer is someone who can wear many masks and play many different roles. Oh, you need a copyeditor? A writer has the potential to do that. Do you need a novelist? A writer can work to do this. I say "potential" and "work" because, believe it or not, writing isn't easy. While it's not coding the latest operating system for your iPhone difficult, writing is still not an easy feat. There's extensive training and practice that needs to be done in order to be a professional at a certain writing craft.

When I want to write about dogs or city living or tattoos over politics and the latest shootings, I should be able to without question. Never should a writer be told what to write about because writing is a form of art. If I've learned anything from my current Linguistics course, it's that no piece of writing can ever be fully duplicated. New sentence formations are being created each and every day. You say a new sentence every single day. To be able to write these new ideas and new sentences is a marvelous thing to do, so it should never be shushed just so that same person can write about politics like everyone else.

Another huge difference between journalism and writing is that the skills learned in creative writing cannot be applied to journalism. As a creative writer, I would not be able to write a fully journalistic piece because I have not been taught how to write like a journalist. If I tried to write a journalistic piece, there's a good chance it wouldn't read like a professional journalism piece. So let's not try to force a creative writer into a journalism box.